Seeing Ye Chen’s confused expression, Nuwa smiled faintly. “You should know that the origin of our race was the Primordial Creation Lotus Platform, which birthed Pangu. In reality, this Primordial Creation Lotus Platform is a massive, intricate machine, holding life technology within it, capable of shaping life from nothingness, and the beings it shapes possess unimaginably powerful strength!”

Ye Chen nodded slightly; this was something he was aware of.

“I suppose you’ve already discovered it.” Nuwa’s lips curved into a wave-like, captivating arc as she looked at the long-haired, statuesque Ye Chen listening intently. “The strength of the Great God Pangu was enough to roam the Ancient Continent unchecked, fully comparable to, or perhaps even surpassing, the Ten Hall Masters!”

Ye Chen recalled the battle of the severed hand in the Asura Sea; the combat prowess Pangu displayed then was indeed astonishingly incredible!

“The Great God Pangu is merely the Lord of our Civilization. Across this vast continent, with 3000 Civilizations scattered everywhere, the strength of most Civilization Lords peaks at the pinnacle of the God-Emperor realm. Some stronger Civilization Lords, such as those from the God Realm, Demon Realm, Immortal Realm, or Monster Realm… the Lords of these major civilizations have surpassed the God-Emperor realm, standing at a watershed between the God-Emperor and the ‘Era Realm’—equivalent to a ‘Half-Step Era Expert’!”

Nuwa’s gentle voice flowed like trickling water, permeating every inch of Ye Chen’s skin. “By all rights, our Great God Pangu, at his strongest, should only possess the power of the ‘Half-Step Era Realm.’ But in reality, that is completely untrue. Because he was never human; he was a… android!”

Ye Chen froze for a full three seconds before recovering, his handsome face looking as if he’d discovered a new continent, his dark pupils widening several sizes. “An, an android?”

He clearly struggled to accept this truth.

One must consider the stature of Pangu—the leader of the entire spiritual civilization, holding an incomparably lofty status—yet now, according to Nuwa, he was a machine!

It was utterly inconceivable!

Nuwa chuckled softly, as if Ye Chen’s reaction was entirely within her expectations. Her clear, jade-green eyes were filled with doting affection and softness. She said, “Nothing in this world is impossible. You don’t need to be so shocked. That Primordial Creation Lotus Platform is itself a machine akin to a maternal womb. You must understand, for any civilization—be it Cultivation, Immortal, or Buddhist—their magical artifacts, immortal swords, and Buddhist implements are merely what their respective civilizations call them. In truth, they are all crafted through meticulous smelting processes utilizing cutting-edge high technology.”

“Especially the Immortal Sword. While it appears to be just a sword, the blade’s surface is actually composed of countless minute metal segments, with various internal systems such as pressure reduction, propulsion, energy release, and energy-matter conversion systems. It’s just that each system is miniaturized.”

“When people encounter phenomena they cannot explain, they mythologize them. On our place of origin—Earth—people initially believed in spirits and ghosts when encountering things like will-o'-the-wisps. Later, they discovered it was merely white phosphorus igniting spontaneously upon contact with air. This is because as technology advances, some supernatural phenomena are gradually deciphered.”

“Like the Babylonian Civilization you heard about, which was once a great civilization that constructed a City in the Sky, whose people used magic. However, their magic was released through artifacts. These so-called artifacts were merely terms within their civilization; in reality, they were technological weapons engraved with energy conduits, capable of gathering cosmic elements from the air, compressing and projecting them—essentially functioning like machine guns!”

“But compared to an artifact the size of a ring or necklace, a machine gun is as crude as an unevolved savage. Therefore, the Primordial Creation Lotus Platform is, in essence, also a machine. Over countless ages, it manufactured the Great God Pangu. The precision and technological depth contained within this platform are immeasurable. Not only did it forge Pangu’s body to a hardness comparable to a Void Heaven Artifact, but it also endowed him with a soul!”

Nuwa looked at Ye Chen with a playful smile and said softly, “You should know what a wondrous energetic substance the soul is. With the current technology on the Ancient Continent, the soul’s code has yet to be completely deciphered. Thus, Pangu was, in essence, an android possessing a soul.”

Ye Chen felt as if a block of ice had been jammed into his mind; his consciousness became momentarily blank and fuzzy. He stood motionless, seemingly processing Nuwa’s words. After a period of silence, he looked up, his gaze falling upon Nuwa’s exquisite face. “But, we currently have Artificial Intelligence lifeforms that possess human emotions and desires. Wouldn't that count as a form of mechanical life?”

As he said this, he recalled Xiao Zhongsheng from the Heavenly Dao Divine Boat; didn't that woman exhibit cold emotions?

“AI lifeforms possess a human emotional system, but emotions and a soul are not the same thing. Emotions and thought do not represent the entirety of the soul. Therefore, current technology has only cracked the body’s emotional system and cannot yet fully decipher the soul. Although some powerful machines, like the ‘Mirror of Eternity’ from the Immortal Realm Civilization, can reflect copies of everything, it is merely duplication, not true creation—those are entirely different concepts.”

Nuwa spoke lightly, a transcendent smile perpetually gracing her lips.

Ye Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he slowly lowered his head.

“In fact…” Nuwa gazed out at the deep blue sky beyond the window, her eyes clear and ethereal, a film of water shimmering over her pupils, alive with movement. Her voice was soft, like mist. “Perhaps we humans ourselves are a type of robot, though in our context, we are termed flesh-and-blood organisms. However, flesh-and-blood, metal, and rock are all fundamentally matter, just in different forms. Rock has its own life and methods of survival, such as not needing to breathe or move. Our bodies might be the most successful organisms shaped by Nature, because we possess not only emotions and mobility but also comprehensive internal organs and systems—touch, hearing, sight, and so on—in addition to a soul, spirit, and will!”

Ye Chen listened silently, feeling as if a magical door had opened in his mind, revealing a very distant world.

A question suddenly struck him: If humanity is so complex, then who created humans? Was this so-called ‘Nature’ the cosmos itself, or perhaps… a specific being?

Nuwa slowly turned around. Her snow-white skin shimmered in the light like a piece of jade, and beneath her long, sweeping eyelashes were eyes as bright as a lake under the moonlight. Her entire body, draped in a soft, satin-like gauze dress, radiated gentle rays of light, as if a canopy of stars illuminated her from above.

She appeared like a flawless goddess.

Ye Chen’s expression barely changed, as if everything before him didn't exist. His face held the stern contours carved by a biting wind. After a moment of silence, he finally asked, “Then, where are the captured monsters?”

Nuwa looked gently at this man, perhaps boy, and smiled faintly, her smile fluttering in the light breeze, sparkling with brilliant radiance.

Rock God Mountain.

A blood-red moon hung suspended in the sky, occasionally peeking through gaps in the clouds to cast down shafts of crimson light, sharp as descending sword rulers, capable of slicing the very air.

The air was thick with the cloying scent of blood, an indelible, colorless essence that had drowned the entire sky. Under the eerie, malevolent light of the blood-moon, the flowing blood and scattered bones at the foot of Rock God Mountain resembled a hellscape from an abyss. Countless broken swords and blades lay thrust haphazardly among the corpses, covered by dense, faint grayish-white vapor, like the lingering resentments of the wrongfully dead.

“Ah…”

A shriek saturated with infinite terror, like a mournful cry in the crimson night curtain, pierced the vast expanse, echoing throughout heaven and earth!

Dizang Chuan stood suspended in the air, as if treading upon an invisible floor. His long, smooth black hair billowed in the night wind. His bangs, sloping down across his brow, clustered like wolf teeth, obscuring his forehead and casting most of his face into shadow, making his expression unreadable. Only the faint, crescent shape of his mouth was visible, stark white like a snowflake, curved in a smile.

In his long, fair hand, he clutched a cold corpse that was rapidly losing its warmth. The body had long ceased struggling, hanging limply as he gripped its neck. A smear of splattered blood stained his thumb, thick and almost congealed.

He chuckled softly, then casually flicked his wrist, tossing the body away like refuse. It plummeted into the jungle below like a crashed fighter jet.

Then he lifted his head, gazing with amusement at the golden-armored man before him. This man’s expression was like the white snow of winter, pale without a trace of color. His grayish-white lips trembled, and though he strained to suppress his body’s reactions, the muscles beneath his skin twitched unnaturally, like a python encountering its natural predator.

“Aiya ya…” Dizang Chuan raised his hand to his mouth, extended his soft, pink tongue to lick it, savoring the taste with a sound like a naive child enjoying candy. Then he smiled, filled with sinister delight. “The taste of blood is always so exquisite… isn’t it, the 21st generation Earth God Lord, Cang Dao?”

Cang Dao’s face was as pale and luminous as his blade. Staring at this demon standing in the night, his heart hammered as if grasped by a monster. The blood in his body seemed to have stopped flowing. He could not comprehend what he was witnessing. In less than ten minutes, the eleven elders of the Honorary Elder Council had all died instantly—some with their hearts ripped out, others with their heads twisted off, or their entire bodies torn violently in half, resulting in sights too gruesome to describe.

Each of these eleven individuals was a 【Half-Step Era Expert】!

Such terrifying power—even if he fought them personally, it would take a significant amount of time just to perhaps secure a victory. Yet, in the hands of this young man clad in a long, black robe, they were crushed instantly, like thin sheets of paper!

I guess today will be just one update. I have some things to deal with, feeling depressed. I'll make up with three updates tomorrow. Brothers, rest early, don't wait up too late. Old Gu might have to go back to my hometown soon to replace my ID card, I lost mine. Hmph, I’ll try to postpone that; I don't need it yet, I'll deal with it when the time comes, sweat.

Furthermore, starting tomorrow, I will move the update time earlier, shifting it up gradually to post sooner; staying up too late exhausts me, and I lack spirit the next day.

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